In this episode of The Real Finds Podcast, host Gordon Lamphere sits down with industrial outdoor storage specialist Andrew Wiesemann to unpack one of the hottest, most misunderstood asset classes in commercial real estate today. From zoning headaches and generational turnover to cap rate spreads and sovereign wealth funds, this conversation is a masterclass in how IOS really works on the ground.

Andrew shares how he went from buying multifamily in Chicago for a family office to focusing on single-tenant industrial assets in Wisconsin and Indiana, and ultimately into IOS after discovering how crucial outdoor storage was to the tenants at a Lansing, Michigan site. That pivot gave him a front row seat to the structural supply shortage that has pushed IOS into the spotlight.

Gordon and Andrew dig into why IOS is so constrained by zoning and legacy big box development, and how that lack of supply is colliding with demand from trucking, equipment rental, data center infrastructure, utilities, waste, and building materials users. Andrew explains why municipalities often misunderstand truck yards and storage yards, how long standing users lose their rights when sites go vacant, and why that keeps choking off future supply even when land looks available from the street.

They also walk through the investor side. Andrew breaks down who is buying IOS today, from private 1031 buyers treating it like a retail income play to institutional capital looking for mark-to-market stories with three to five-year weighted average lease terms. He compares traditional industrial cap rates to IOS portfolios, explains why there is still a spread, and why he expects cap rate compression as data, comps, and standardization catch up.

If you invest in IOS or are even just IOS curious, you will want to hear Andrew’s framework for what makes a Class A yard versus a Class B or C yard. He walks through the user focused checklist: access and truck flow, dual ingress and egress, stabilization and pavement, clear heights and door heights, yard configuration, lighting and security, and how all of this ties into long term functionality as equipment and user needs evolve.

They go deep on:

- How e commerce, trucking restrictions, and retailer parking policies created a national truck parking and IOS crunch

- Why only certain heavy industrial zoning categories allow outdoor storage by right and how early 2000s big box development quietly ate up that land

- The generational turnover wave among long time junkyards, scrap yards, and automotive users, and why some are sitting on an unrecognized gold mine

- What happens when a long term tenant finally turns over and the site suddenly has to meet today’s codes, from fencing and landscaping to parking and paving

- How to think about IOS cap rates relative to traditional industrial and why portfolios can price differently from one off sites

- Why infrastructure is destiny for IOS, and how markets like Chicago, DFW, Memphis, Kansas City, Mobile, and Savannah benefit from heavy public and private investment in ports, highways, and intermodals

For more, reach out to Gordon Lamphere and our team of commercial real estate experts at https://www.vvco.com, Chicago's trusted commercial real estate agents and commercial property managers.